Minutes March 2024
Kettlethorpe Parish Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday 12th March 2024
in Kettlethorpe Village Hall
PRESENT:
Cllt C Turner Chair
Cllr R Elliott
Cllr R Barnard
Cllr P Bussoopun
Cllr C McGowan
Cllr T O’Callaghan
Mr G Cleworth, Clerk
D/Cllr R Pilgrim also attended the meeting.
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
The Minutes of the meeting held on 13th February 2024 had been circulated to all councillors and were proposed, seconded and approved by the meeting.
PROGRESS REPORTS
Jubilee Park
Cllr Barnard had received a quotation from Owen Improvements. This comprised £600 to repair the playground surface and £920 to restore the brickwork on the pillars. In an attempt to cut costs, he had asked for a quote to instal paving flags in place of the bricks. He had not received a response as yet, and will follow up whilst advise the Council’s agreement in respect of the soft pour.
LCC had advised that the treatment of the fence panels would take place on 9th hand/or 10th April. They had provided a list of items which the Council had to provide. The Clerk will progress this. They had also enquired about the availability of toilet and washing facilities. Cllr O’Callaghan will approach the landlord of the Friendship Inn in this regard.
RoSPA report
Cllr Barnard had obtained the special tool to replace of the bearing on the see-saw and will now obtain the bearings.
Cllr Bussoopun advised that some of the timbers of the fence panels required replacement. Cllr Barnard will provide this.
Rewilding of Cemetery
there had been no progress.
Poor state of Westmoor Lane
It was decided that as this issue is not the Council’s responsibility. It will be omitted from future agendas.
Hedge trimming at The Gables, Main Road, Laughterton
The survey of all overhanging hedges across both villages had not yet taken place. The Clerk will write to the householder of the Gables asking them to action this and advising we would involve LCC if it was not done.
Lorry movements at unsocial hours
The Chair and Cllr Elliott had examined the planning grants in relation to the access road from the A156. The grants appeared to relate only to the units on the former Wood View site, which would explain why the road is gated.
D/Cllr Pilgrim will follow up with WLDC enforcement regarding access out of hours via Park Farm Road, but it remain the fact that unless residents will keep a diary of occurancies, there was little which could be done.
CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence for February/March to date had been distributed to all Councillors
The Clerk had distributed a list of further organisations for adding to the blocked list of junk emails. This was agreed.
PLANNING
nothing to report
FINANCE
The payment of the following invoices for December were agreed by the Council:
already paid: F5 COMPUTING – domain maintenance £49.44; HSBC £10.00 (monthly charge £8.00 plus £2.00 charge for paying in a cheque); LALC annual subscription £162.08
Clerk – PAYE AND SALARY for January
The payment from LCC in respect of contribution to grasscutting costs had been received.
PARISH ACCOUNTS
end of February – income £12767.59; expenditure £10399.54; balance £11168.67
These were agreed and accepted by the meeting
The Clerk had received a pre-renewal questionnaire from the Council’s insurers and had reviewed the Asset Register in anticipation of returning this. A number of anomalies in the Asset Register were discussed and dealt with.
ITEM FOR DISCUSSION
(a) Mr G Newton, a resident of Fenton and former Chair of Fenton PC had enquired regarding a plot for the interment of the ashes of his late wife in the Council cemetery, to be followed eventually by those of himself. This was agreed by the meeting and the Clerk will progress.
(b) Reports had been received of a blocked water disposal pipe at the junction of Kettlethorpe Road/Lane close to the disused bus shelter. Attempts had been made to established responsibility for this pipe without success and someone had done some work as the water was now flowing, albeit slowly. This work had also revealed a black cable. D/Cllr Pilgrim is working on a solution.
(c) The Clerk had received a request to display a poster on the notice board. It transpired that this was from a commercial organisation based in Fenton, to whom he had redirected the enquiry. The meeting ruled that only posters from the Parish Council, the Church, the Village Hall, the Women’s Institute and Kettlethorpe United Charities would be accepted.
(d) Cllr O’Callaghan advised that the properties opposite Jubilee Park on the west side of Main Road, Laughteron continued to experience issues with the damaged sidewalk. This had previously been referred to LCC Fix My Street, who had inspected and decided on no further action. Now, after rain, the water is overtopping the kerb and causing ingress into driveways. The Clerk will contact Fix My Street to reinstate the enquiry.
(e) Cllr O’Callaghan advised that an obscenity had been spray painted inside the bus shelter in Laughterton. The shelter does need some other maintenance work which will be placed on future agendas, together with sanding/painting the graffiti out.
(f) Cllr Elliott raised the matter of the flower boxes at the Laughterton boundary signs. It was decided to retain them and the bedding in them, plus planting of some daffodils on the two triangles in the village.
(g) Clle O’Callaghan raised the matter of a noxious smell in some parts of the parish. This arises from the dumping of bovine waste in fields, and has been sanctioned with WLDC. D/Cllr Pilgrim will investigate.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will take place in Kettlethorpe Village Hall at 7pm on Tuesday 9th April 2024.
The Chair closed the meeting at 9.10pm.